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Carma Leigh
Carma Leigh (November 15, 1904 – September 25, 2009), born Carma Russell, was an American librarian. She was the State Librarian of California from 1951 to 1972.
Carma Alice Russell was born near McLoud in Oklahoma Territory, the daughter of William Luther Russell and Ida Jenkins Russell, white homesteaders. She earned a bachelor's degree in history from the Oklahoma College for Women in 1925. She earned a master's degree in history and graduated from the School of Librarianship at the University of California, Berkeley in 1930.
Leigh began her career in the year 1930 as a junior assistant at the Berkeley Public Library. From 1932 to 1938, she was the city library director in Watsonville, California, where she knew John Steinbeck's sister Esther, and heard her apologize over some scenes in his novel, The Grapes of Wrath.
She served as county library director in Orange County from 1938 to 1942, and in San Bernardino County from 1942 to 1945.
In 1945, she left California to become Washington State Librarian.
In 1951, governor Earl Warren appointed Leigh to the position of State Librarian of California, a position she held through three more governors' terms, until her retirement in 1972.
During her term as State Librarian, the California Library Commission was established, and the Public Library Development Act passed into law in 1963, establishing state funding for a network of regional library systems. "Without strongly organized county, regional, or inter-county libraries", asked Leigh, "can there be a system of cooperative library services which will achieve many of the same advantages?"
In 1970 she lobbied to preserve book and library postal rates, a particular concern for librarians in larger Western states. When Leigh started as State Librarian of California in 1951, there was little coordination between different library locations and library systems within the state of California. However, by the time she retired in 1972, twenty-one cooperative library systems had been successfully implemented. Carma was able to achieve this through various methods, one of the most successful being her decision to a weeklong workshop where librarians from around the state could meet and begin creating "good, well-defined basic standards." Following this first workshop, the "Standards for Public Library Service in California," as they came to be called, were officially adopted by the CLA membership in November 1953.
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Carma Leigh
Carma Leigh (November 15, 1904 – September 25, 2009), born Carma Russell, was an American librarian. She was the State Librarian of California from 1951 to 1972.
Carma Alice Russell was born near McLoud in Oklahoma Territory, the daughter of William Luther Russell and Ida Jenkins Russell, white homesteaders. She earned a bachelor's degree in history from the Oklahoma College for Women in 1925. She earned a master's degree in history and graduated from the School of Librarianship at the University of California, Berkeley in 1930.
Leigh began her career in the year 1930 as a junior assistant at the Berkeley Public Library. From 1932 to 1938, she was the city library director in Watsonville, California, where she knew John Steinbeck's sister Esther, and heard her apologize over some scenes in his novel, The Grapes of Wrath.
She served as county library director in Orange County from 1938 to 1942, and in San Bernardino County from 1942 to 1945.
In 1945, she left California to become Washington State Librarian.
In 1951, governor Earl Warren appointed Leigh to the position of State Librarian of California, a position she held through three more governors' terms, until her retirement in 1972.
During her term as State Librarian, the California Library Commission was established, and the Public Library Development Act passed into law in 1963, establishing state funding for a network of regional library systems. "Without strongly organized county, regional, or inter-county libraries", asked Leigh, "can there be a system of cooperative library services which will achieve many of the same advantages?"
In 1970 she lobbied to preserve book and library postal rates, a particular concern for librarians in larger Western states. When Leigh started as State Librarian of California in 1951, there was little coordination between different library locations and library systems within the state of California. However, by the time she retired in 1972, twenty-one cooperative library systems had been successfully implemented. Carma was able to achieve this through various methods, one of the most successful being her decision to a weeklong workshop where librarians from around the state could meet and begin creating "good, well-defined basic standards." Following this first workshop, the "Standards for Public Library Service in California," as they came to be called, were officially adopted by the CLA membership in November 1953.